Because One World is Never Enough

Month: April 2018

Well three months of Fijian is, in a sense, over! But my studying and love of the Fijian language will, as things stand, never cease!

Did I become fluent in it? At the VERY least, I have a solid grounding in things related to tourism and getting around. At the most, I may be able to teach classes in Fijian will little of an issue!

A lot of people ask me if it is possible to learn a language in a short amount of time, especially given the endless debates about Benny Lewis’s “Fluent in 3 Months” name. (Do we need another reminder that the title is actually a challenge rather than a promise?)

Here is my honest opinion: in three months, it is VERY possible to assemble the FRAME of a language. This means that you (1) understand the pronunciation (2) understand how sentences are made (3) understand how various parts of speech (e.g. adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc.) are formed and where they go in a sentence. (Example: in a language like English an adjective would go before a noun in modifies, in Fijian it would go after, hence “the Bible” would be “iVola Tabu” [yes, the word “tabu”, from where we get the word “tabu” in English, DOES also mean “holy” in addition to something not spoken about or treated with holiness!]).

Once you make the FRAME, you start filling in the “picture”, which is vocabulary from which you acquire from reading / using the language / other means. I’m already 700+ words into my Fijian Memrise course (I intend to put the whole glossary of the Lonely Planet Guide into it!)

Anyhow, here are some observations:

With languages closer to English, you can fall into the trap of having the illusion of knowing MORE by virtue of the fact that you understand more of it. With languages more distant from English, your active vocabulary should be your primary focus.

Learning how to say basic sentences (and then, later on, more complicated sentences) is a confidence builder that will enable you to assemble the “frame”, however slowly.

In learning Fijian, I turned on audio about three weeks in and I could barely understand any of it except for when they lapsed into English (which, predictably, does happen in radio broadcasts—English is an official language of Fiji, after all). This actually got me away from immersion (which was the path of least resistance when I was learning English Creoles, for example) and more focused on my active abilities.

In a sense, this was an advantage – because I focused a lot more on my own acquisitions rather than expecting passive work to “do everything”. I did do some immersion at points, even when I felt I wasn’t really ready, in order to pick out key words, note sentence structure or, best of all, improve my accent. (The Fijian “r” and “s” in particular are very juicy—not surprisingly, many people from places like Papua New Guinea will speak English with heavily rolled r’s and thick s’s that sound like the “ce” in “Joyce”)

Even what may seem like heavy disadvantages can be used to hack your brain into getting it doing what needs to be done.

Don’t Stress About Your Accent. It Will Come Eventually!

I remember one time that I was reciting Fijian phrases for a friend I remarked that I was “speaking Fijian with a New York Accent” (wait, that was last night, wasn’t it?) That said, I repeated the phrase in something that sounded more like natural Fijian as spoken by a native speaker.

I was really worried that I sounded like a “white person” in my first batch of recordings for the 30-Day Speaking Challenge, but interestingly enough I noticed that the more Fijian I spoke, the more I would be attuned to the pronunciation norms, especially when I would listen to Fijian music during my commute. (Warning: a lot of contemporary Fijian music does rely heavily on auto-tune, so some may prefer radio over music for that).

This is a good thing to keep in mind for my next three-month mission (May – July) as well as for future ones.

Sometimes Speaking Exercises About Your Life Cannot Prepare You for All Situations.

Fijian pronouns have FIFTEEN forms. Let’s have a look at this chart, shall we?

Guess how many of them I was using in my speaking exercises? Usually just “au”, “eratou” and “era” (sometimes pronounced as “iratou” or “ira”). For those unaware: paucal is for a GROUP of things, plural is for a LARGE GROUP of things (or speaking about a species or type of person in general).

And then of course the possessives were even odder because there are multiple possessive forms depending on whether you own the object substantially, will eat it, will drink it, or … miscellaneous.

I had to do a bunch of table recitations (and use them in sentences) in order to get this “missing information” in my head, because these pronouns and possessives ARE important!

Focus on What You DO Have Rather Than What You are Lacking!

Little I can say to this other than what I just wrote. In going through my Memrise lists there were so many words I didn’t know or recognize, but the important thing is to not get discouraged and move forward!

In the Event of a Rarer Language or One Whose Native Speakers You May Not See Often, Don’t Overthink It.

I can imagine that actually being in Fiji will be a significant guide for me to “conform” and patch up on my knowledge accordingly. I’ll learn a lot of aspects of formality and slurred speech than I may have not been able to pick up from my books or from the speaking exercises accordingly. I intend to believe in myself!

Future Plans:

I’ll continue to be working on Fijian accordingly, but now that I’ve “assembled the frame”, I think I could turn my focus elsewhere. I’ve been working on Fijian almost non-stop for the whole year, and I’m itching for a new project.

So for May – July (as things stand) I’ll be doing Kiribati / Gilbertese (in addition to “sides” of other languages) and for the fall (August – October) I’m likely to focus on Hungarian. These were two languages I’ve dreamed of learning and this is the year they’ll get the attention they deserve!

Lastly I’d like to thank all of my readers for believing in me and writing supportive comments. Also! Ask questions! Suggest future articles! This blog continues to exist because of readers like YOU!

I don’t think this piece needs any introduction. Who needs introductions anyway?

To Start This Blog

Back in 2014, when I was having conversations in okay / mediocre / sort of manageable German (with perhaps too much influence from Yiddish) on a daily basis, in addition to conversations in Hebrew, Yiddish, Swedish and Danish (all of which, looking back, did require a significant amount of work but which were still passable), I thought of writing this blog to document the wisdom that I gained and struggles that I had on a daily basis.

To be honest, when I first started I thought that I wasn’t “qualified enough”, but here’s something you need to know: the world belongs to those who make brave decisions without overthinking them. (This is the biggest disadvantage of being intelligent by FAR—every single one of our decisions has an extensive map of potential consequences that could freeze up decision-making. That, and success in school does usually result in approval-seeking behavioral patterns, which usually are damaging on the long term).

This blog was hibernating from late 2015 until 2017 (due to my Lyme Disease) when I decided I would bring it back and explain that the reason I wasn’t posting was…well, because I was sick.

Despite all the praise and letters of thank you I’ve received from languages learners across the world, it hasn’t been “all nice”. My writing style has been called a significant amount of names and I’ve been accused of being a charlatan (obviously by people who never met me and likely don’t care to). But thankfully this is rare in comparison to the love I’ve received from the community built from dreamers and dream-realizers like YOU!

To Meet Ari in Beijing for his Tea Ceremony in Chinatown

One fine evening in a Moishe House (it’s like a community house for Jewish young people in their 20’s and 30’s), I came across someone who told me he was having a tea ceremony in Chinatown on the following day and that he’d like me to come.

I got up and I wasn’t feeling well. I messaged Ari and told him that I may be unable to come. Then my head cleared in an hour and I’m SO GRATEFUL it did. He and I spoke about languages, travel, cultural differences and, of course, China’s cuisine, which still olds a distinctly unique place on the world stage.

I saw Chinese news shows playing behind me and I remarked on the fact that Norway also has subtitles in all of its shows as well (to assist the hard of hearing / immigrants learning Norwegian mostly). One thing led to another and the fact that I was a hyperglot couldn’t really be kept a secret.

We met on several occasions since the tea ceremony (and it was the best I’ve ever had, EVER, even if it felt like “energizer in a pot”). He wanted to interview me for his channel and I used that as an opportunity to lay forth messages I wish I heard earlier in my life to eager learners throughout the world. It has since become a noteworthy success.

He also “mentored me” in the art of YouTubing, video-making and also encouraged me to focus a bit more on depth (which I took into mind with my primary language focus of 2018 so far – namely, Fijian).

I was also afraid of making videos and in July of that year (the interview was recorded and posted in April) I started making my first ones, and then began growing into it. All because of Ari.

To Submit my Proposal to the 2017 Polyglot Conference in Reykjavik (Despite the Fact That I was “Certain” It Wouldn’t Get Accepted)

It’s no secret that I like the Nordic Countries. A lot. I wear t-shirts with Icelandic and Greenlandic paraphernalia on them for many public appearances (including an Icelandic declension shirt during the Ari in Beijing interview and a Nanook shirt for … well, we’ll find out in a moment, shall we?)

I submitted a proposal on a talk on how to use video games to learn and maintain languages in April 2017. I was SO SURE I wasn’t getting accepted (there was no way I was competing with global scholars and government officials, right? RIGHT?)

I woke up one Monday morning expecting sheer disappointment and when I opened the message at 6 AM I was so excited that I felt like shouting loud enough to wake up all of Brooklyn.

Professor Arguelles and I messaged repeatedly, not only in Brooklyn but also on the shores of Inle Lake (in Myanmar) in order to create an outline that would introduce this fantastic novel method of language learning to people who had never touched a Game Boy / Atari / anything else in their life.

I went on the stage, definitely one of the youngest presenters there (I was not THE youngest, however), and I used my trademark energizing way of teaching complete with a PowerPoint presentation with tons of Easter Eggs and “secret bits” for people who knew the various languages on the screen (e.g. Undertale in Japanese, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 2 in Polish, etc.)

Richard Simcott and Alex Rawlings told me afterwards that the presentation got OVERWHELMINGLY positive feedback including many people who wanted me to do an “encore” at future conferences.

The twitter feed in which my talk was tagged also had things like “I don’t know a lot about video games but this really explained it well. EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT PRESENTATION!!!!”

This provided me such a huge boost to my language skills in addition to the fact that it GREATLY increased my interpersonal skills in ways that were not possible earlier in my life.

It also gave me fantastic insight as to how most people learn languages (and the obstacles they face in doing so). It also enabled me to fine-tune my own missions as well. (Often in a lot of classes I’ve taught in 2018 I also mentioned “I’m learning Fijian right now and l’m having many of the same issues that you are!)

Once Nuuk Adventures comes out, I may begin “winding it down”, but for now I’m still doing it (and I can be your teacher! Contact info above!)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

To Focus More on the World than Just My Jewish Heritage in Particular

I got my M.A. in Jewish Studies but I think one significant issue that I had was the fact that a significant amount of people there, both among the staff and the students, maybe found it a bit “silly” that I would care about many other places so much. Interestingly when I went to Greenland (one of the only two countries I’ve been to without any organized Jewish presence, the other being Jordan [Iceland is debatable given that they have a seasonal Jewish community and, now, a Chabad Rabbi, so I’ll count it as having one), I found a LOT in common with the conversations that people were having about Jewish identities.

Examples: how do we balance our traditions with the modern world? How is it possible that we survived this long, despite everything? How will we survive in the coming years? And, of course, the underdog humor found in Greenlandic films such as “Tarratta Nunaanni” and in Yiddish theater sketches have a LOT in common (whether Marc Fussing Rosbach or other creators realized it or not!)

To Downsize the Presence of “Punishing Religion” in my Life

I can’t say too much about this quite yet because next month there is likely to be a “big reveal” concerning this. Some of you know about it already but I promised not to write about it until…well, you’ll know when you read it.

To Go to the Amazon Loft for an Event near Canal Street in Manhattan on Leap Day 2016

“Kaverini: Nuuk Adventures” was thereby set in motion because of the people I met that evening.

Having Chosen to Go Abroad to Krakow after Graduating College

I could have remained a parochial nice Jewish boy, but as it turns out, right out of college—I had so many job rejections that I felt like cracking. Then a professor of mine from Poland recommended that I work at this internship program in Krakow. I was skeptical at first (given how Hebrew University was nice but also provided a significant amount of stress).

I decided that anything was better than unemployment. And I made the plunge. I made the decision at the Woodbridge Town Library (which was ALSO the place where “Kaverini: Nuuk Adventures” started because that was where I discovered the Greenlandic language as well!) I was in the library because of post-hurricane power outages.

I remember sending the documents and taking in a feeling that I would be living in a foreign country again.

The journey sent me to several other countries as well. And I remained permanently changed.

I found myself thrown in between so many cultures that I was very confused.

But the wisdom I gained from it was immense. And Poland in particular also has a fascinating history which ties together a lot of elements of being an empire and being crushed by empires at various points in its history, not also to mention a deep history of multiculturalism with a more recent past of being very ethnically monolithic (pretty much every Polish person that I have spoken to had noteworthy traces of a non-Polish nationality in their ancestry, including yes, Jewish ancestry.)

Between my time in being a permanent resident in the U.S., Israel, Poland, Sweden and Germany (despite the fact that they’re all developed countries with lots of political power), the world would never be the same.

A friend of mind recommended that I write this piece when he asked me how on earth I managed to live a multilingual life at a young age. Granted, I do have some advantages. Living in New York City means that I have opportunities to hear and use these languages. Being a freelancer that works with translation and teaching has as well (although this does tend to benefit the languages that I have the strongest command in above all). Then, of course, there is my peer group.

If you want to have any mental or professional attribute, surround yourself with people who have it and you’re more than likely to acquire it yourself.

With that said, I also think that anyone can learn 10+ languages to very high levels as long as one crushes any limiting beliefs or any hint of “I can’t!”. History was never changed by people who had this sort of thought.

Here I’ll lay out the variety of mindsets that my hyperpolyglot peers and myself have adopted:

An Altruistic Desire to Help One Another

The best language learners help each other up. They share tips and are willing to rehearse languages whenever necessary and provide feedback / praise / constructive criticism. They draw other people to them with the power of thinking “you can do it!” and “I’m willing to help you!”

They cultivate an openness that is likely to draw in speakers of their target language as well as similar “bridge builders”. They’re willing to provide advice of any sort and provide whatever courage needs to be provided with nary a hint of any toxicity or discouragement at all.

This is NOT saying that hyperpolyglots are angels, because all of us have flaws as human beings. Rather that they see the value in spreading positive energy in encouragement.

A Growth Mindset

Contemporary educational systems tend to focus a lot more on the “fixed mindset”, in which only the current result is judged in ADDITION to ignoring the fact that it is very possible for human beings to improve, even drastically so.

Often on the Internet a lot of people judging people’s language abilities judge what they HEAR and SEE, as opposed to what it WAS and what it has the POTENTIAL TO BE.

Hyperpolyglots see the potential to growth in everything and foster that path in others.

A Distinct Lack of “Perfectionist Paralysis”

I think it was Benny Lewis that coined this term.

When I upload my Fiji Hindi recordings next week or so, there are probably a LOT of things that I got wrong. There is a chance that I may have used too many English loan words or that my formality may be completely off.

That said, I’m going to upload them anyway, even at the cost of potential dislikes. This idea of “waiting until you’re perfect” or, even worse, assuming that anything less than near native fluency is useless, is dangerous.

A lot of today’s institutions as well as common mindsets try to make people adverse to risk. This only serves to breed conformity (which is helpful for the proliferation of income inequality). Always try with what you have, because those form the steps which will lead you to the legendary skills of your dreams.

An Awareness that Learning a Language is a Very Vulnerable Act and that People Don’t Undertake It Precisely Because of That

There is a lot of negative energy in the world, not also to mention many people having heard horror stories about language learning. Some of them include, for example, a man who got a Mandarin Chinese tone wrong and was told by his in-laws to “never attempt this language again” as well as a Dutchman who said “I’d rather speak in English rather than listen to your shit Dutch”.

Half of my language-learning classes at the very beginning is programming people to have my mindset in which to not be afraid of mistakes and realize that even the “pickiest” of native speakers are usually very forgiving.

There is a huge veil of doubt, discouragement and limiting beliefs that prevents people from living their dreams. Every day. We all, as humans, have to get rid of that veil’s power—on ourselves and anyone else we may know.

A Recognition that Everyone’s Accomplishments Deserve to Be Celebrated

Even a few words of your dream language is something.

Your first conversation is a milestone you’ll remember.

Making a video of yourself speaking the language also deserves celebration.

Getting praise from native speakers and /or getting mistaken for one is also very noteworthy indeed.

No matter the language, every single one of these steps has to be savored and congratulated.

Being Intrigued by the Differences Between Nations and Cultures

This is one that sets apart those who speak three languages from those who speak 10+. They’re fascinated by what the world is like, what sort of surprises are present in the literatures, cultures, customs and traditions of the many languages of the world.

Those who get endlessly intrigued by this “world with little worlds” get thrown into a desire to endlessly explore, break comfort boundaries and do what it takes to acquire skills in many languages to degrees they can be proud of.

I find it no coincidence that my Polyglot Awakening occurred at a time in my life in which I shifted four countries over the course of four years.

A Love of Humanity in General

Even if they don’t agree with most governments on the face of the planet, all of my hyperglot friends realize that all of our human cultures deserve to be learned about, shared and loved.

The human soul, brain and heart are infinite beings. We will never realize the full extent of our own conscious, yet alone that of any one human being at any point in history.

Those who learn languages with great passion see in it the door into realizing how we as humans can all come together and realize exactly how much we have in common.

I’m drawing up a video in which I’m writing the script for (this is a scripted “inspirational video”) and I’m using one language I chose from each continent as well as … well, you’ll have to wait and see. Despite the fact that these languages come from completely different places in terms of climate, values and history, they still share so much.

And that’s the beauty of being alive right now…and being a polyglot (or an aspiring one) in the 2010’s and beyond.

There are so many choices for what I could write about for Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day). No doubt a lot of people would use this day as an opportunity to fortify their own political opinions.

As someone who has lived in five different countries and have been to nearly twenty others, I tend to see countries as “cultural canisters” more than political entities (especially given that I don’t do much work related to government or politics).

I’m not going to write about anything related to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict this time. Today is a day to celebrate all that is Israel and I am very unequivocal about my hope for peace in the future (if not the present) and I don’t need today to prove that.

Today I’m going to open up about my experiences in the Holy Land as a human being, and someone who is very much intrigued, if not obsessed, with the differences between nations and cultures.

Here are some things that I liked and…didn’t like so much…about living in Israel. (I’ve been there three times, 2009, 2012 and 2015, the first time for half a year).

Didn’t Like So Much: The Country Sometimes Feels like Jewish Teenager Disneyland

I can imagine pretty much every Israeli is nodding their head at this point. There is value in getting young people to experience places, especially ones with deep political stories and historical significance and no one can deny that.

With that said, while I have encountered groups of teenagers everywhere in my travels, especially in Western Europe, in Israel I feel that sometimes some of the tour operators may focus too much on “having a good time” perhaps at the expense of truly understanding what Israeli culture and the Israeli mind is all about.

Thankfully with the Paideia Institute I had not only responsible tour guides who asked and answered questions and shared their stories but also responsible tourists as peers—ones who made observations, listened, asked questions and realize that they are there to build bridges and create mutual understanding rather than party, hook up, have fun, etc.

Obviously not ALL of the tourist operators are like this at all, and I’ve had deep conversations with many tourists about their struggles, insights and hopes. But I found myself having to constantly apologize on behalf of my “American compatriots” based on the behavior I saw from other people who held the same passport as mine.

Perhaps this will change with time.

Liked: A Lot of Israelis are Very Curious About the World and Have Global Experiences

Mention the name of a country you’ve been to to most Israelis and chances are they’ve visited there or know someone who is a permanent resident there. Hebrew is a language I’ve heard spoken in every country I’ve visited so far except for Greenland (English and Polish are the only two I’ve heard spoken in all of them).

Thanks to the fact that “galuti” (exilic) isn’t really considered an insult anymore, many Israelis relish their heritage of being “out of many, one people” (like Jamaica, another place with an interesting Jewish backstory!). Tel-Aviv can feel so globalized to a degree that would put Manhattan to shame.

Also with many Israelis I’ve seen that many of them speak other languages very well not also to mention know tidbits of very surprising ones (e.g. Vietnamese, Finnish, Indonesian, etc.)

Mention your recent trip to and Israel and you’ll have a conversation topic for the next thirty minutes guaranteed. And in a good way.

Didn’t Like So Much: Some Olim Idolized the Idea of Israel to a Fault

To me, Israel was a country with deep Jewish heritage and holy sites and many layers of history. The various groups of Olim all made their mark on the country in addition to the Arab Citizens of Israel as well (not also to mention guest workers from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Romania, etc. and possibly anyone else I forgot)

It’s a fantastic place to experience, I love it very much and I love talking about it. And then there are some that see it as a glorified fortress to prevent the Jewish people from experiencing a second Holocaust and, sometimes…little beyond that. And sadly I’ve spoken to some staff members at Yad Vashem who see this as the primary function of the state.

As such, their devotion to it can seem a bit on the nationalistic side in which outsiders of any varieties are not only distrusted but also potential double-crossers, especially if they’re not Jewish. And sometimes not being Jewish in Israel, even as a tourist, can be a bit of a liability. (This is what some of my friends have told me. By contrast, my Judaism never really has been a liability in any of the places I’ve visited nor has being visibly foreign in places like Myanmar been a liability either.)

There are elements of some Israeli sub-cultures that can serve to blind people from dialogue, reason and mutual understanding and the fear of a second Holocaust, not also to mention the omnipresence of the Shoah in popular culture there, serves as an engine for it. But I can imagine that when peace comes to the region there won’t be a need for this anymore.

Liked: A Healthy Diet Can Usually Be the Path of Least Resistance

Yes, you can get more candy than you can know what to do with in Machaneh Yehuda, but also the omnipresence of vegan foods (Israel does have the highest percentage of vegans in the WORLD!) and chickpea specialties being good local favorites will help you tremendously towards whatever weight loss program you’ve been itching to try.

The falafel is Jerusalem is legendary and once you’ve had it, none other in the world will come close. Never, ever, ever.

Didn’t Like So Much: A Mutually-Enforced Barrier Between Israelis and Most Foreign-Born Residents, even Jews, even Olim, and Especially Americans and other Anglophones

Perhaps in part because of the “Disneyland for American Teenagers” trope I’ve discussed earlier, I’ve encountered many Israelis (including Yordim = Israelis living outside of “The Land) who somehow see Americans as almost a completely different species upon which they purport themselves the local experts. (To be fair, Israelis probably know American pop culture better than any nationality I’ve encountered, honorable mentions go to Germany and Iceland [both places with histories of American military presence, no big surprise]).

In Hebrew University many of my attempts to socialize were usually stuck among the Anglophones, even when I could manage Hebrew conversations just fine. And even then once or twice I got the line “we should continue in English because I’ve studied your language for more than you’ve studied mine” (I have literally got this treatment NOWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD!)

Thankfully the majority of Israelis have been encouraging of my Hebrew studies both within and without the Holy Land….as it has been for all of my languages.

Liked: Deep Conversations about Meaningful Topics, as opposed to small talk, are Common

Ah, yes. In the United States, sometimes conversations will go “so…what do you do…?” Three minutes of platitudes followed by “oh, it was nice meeting you”.

In Israel this NEVER HAPPENS. Whether it go into a direction about religion, politics, cultural differences, American sitcoms (which I know nothing about) or my personal favorite: teach me how to swear in (Yiddish / Swedish / Burmese etc.)

I’ve remember SO, SO many soundbites from Israeli conversations that I’ve literally cited conversations I’ve had with Israelis more than I have from any other nationality!

Didn’t Like So Much: The Outward “Culture of Insensitivity” Can Be Off-Putting.

Yes, Americans care about their “feelings” and “smiling all the time” very often (at least this is what people who have “hyphenated American” identities have also told me and I’d have to agree as a TCK myself). That said, there is a certain outward machismo that not only took me time to get used to but was genuinely STRESSFUL during my first few weeks in Israel.

Usage of loud voices is an acquired taste not also to mention a culture in which confrontation is somewhat reveled in (in contrast to Sweden or Spain in which confrontation can cause people to freeze up in confusion).

Even some American students who have been studying in Israel for YEARS never fully adjust to this reality. It isn’t for everyone, and even some people who see Israel as the most beautiful place on earth where everything is perfect for Jews may encounter the fact that they may never fully grow used to this element of the culture.

Liked: The Educational Culture is Something to Marvel At.

Oh, yes. Israeli professors treat you like an equal, they respond on point and value every single one of your ideas. If they disagree with you, they do so respectfully. They’ll keep their politics a guarded secret (one friend told me that disclosing your politics as an Israeli professor means that you’ll get permanently banned from the profession, another friend laughed at the idea that any such policy could be meaningfully enforced).

In the United States, I’m sorry to say, a lot of professors sometimes have fragile egos in which they don’t want to consider their students viewpoints and often want to force their viewpoints on others. NEVER, EVER among Israeli professors have I encountered this, not even among Ulpan teachers.

The rest of the world needs to learn something from this idea of “learning as equals”.

Didn’t Like So Much: You May Sometimes Be Barely Able to Finish a Sentence in Conversing with Israelis.

When I was in Poland, I had tour groups from Britain / Chile / Norway / Iceland / the US / Canada (keep in mind that this was before my “polyglot awakening” in 2013 / 2013 and so in 2011 I was really capable of only giving tours in English and Yiddish and not much else. Okay, I could use some Hebrew, Spanish, Russian and Polish but sometimes I’d have to use English in between. )

British teenager groups -> tended to listen to what I said. A bit like me putting on a show for them with puppets.

Israeli family group -> if the British teenager group was like the puppet show, the Israeli family group was like if I would be tackled in the middle of the show, all of the puppets taken from me and then they start making their own show in which I have the occasional comment.

It’s really charming to reminisce on but again, like so many things Israeli, this is an acquired taste, one that many people, even Olim, never fully acquire.

Liked: Every Day in Israel Feels Like an Adventure.

Between the weather and the fact that few people treat you like strangers, and that people want to talk to you and get to know you, and ask you your opinions about honest topics even if they met you a few minutes ago, Israel feels like an RPG overworld in the best way.

There’s always something new to explore, a conversation to be had, a weather to marvel at, and a place and a people you never truly forget and that will always be in your hearts.

The final day of Pi Mai Lao (ປີໃຫມ່ລາວ or Lao New Year) is also upon us! It is also referred to as “Songkran”, which is essentially the same as the Thai New Year (which also uses the latter term). Thingyan (the Burmese New Year) and Songkran actually have a shared root from Sanskrit (saṁkrānti, which the is a word indicating the transit of the sun from Pisces to Aries). Oh, and the Cambodians have the same thing too: Choul Chnam Thmey (Enter New Year).

It’s as good as an opportunity as any for you to begin your Lao Journey so let’s get you started!

First off, you should realize that Lao and Thai are siblings. But given that Thailand had the luxury of being the only country in the neighborhood that wasn’t colonized (something which it probably owes for its standing in the world today as one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world), you could imagine that it has some differences to Laos. Laos was not only colonized by the French but also has the distinction of being human history’s most bombed country (thanks to Henry Kissinger). Then the Communists took over, changed the flag, many aspects of local culture and, of course, the language.

For those of you who read my article on Yiddish a while back, I mentioned Soviet Yiddish, which changed the orthography of the Yiddish language in a significant manner. Yiddish has words of Hebrew and Aramaic origin but unlike words of European origin in Yiddish they are NOT spelled phonetically, instead being spelled the way they are in Hebrew or Aramaic (which has the vowels as unwritten marks UNDER the words rather than doing what Yiddish does – incorporating various letters as vowel sounds as stand-ins for English letters like a, e, i, o and u). The Soviet changed that system—in which even names for JEWISH HOLIDAYS were spelled phonetically.

There are some theories as to why this choice was made, and the two prominent ones are (1) to detach religious significance from Yiddish and (2) to make it more accessible to learners (and let me tell you, the “having to memorize the pronunciation of each Hebrew-origin word In Yiddish” DOES trip up a LOT of my students).

Now Thai and Lao both have loan words from other languages, most notably Pali (which is an Indo-European Language in which the holy scriptures of Theravada Buddhism are written). But in Lao the same thing happened as with Soviet Yiddish. In Thai, the Pali loan words’ pronunciations don’t always match their written form. The Lao Communist authorities changed that, so that Lao is a “what you see is what you read” variety of language.

To give you an example of a Pali loan word in Lao, the Pathet Lao (the communist faction that took over after the 1975 civil war) is related to the word “Pradesh” which is present in…the names of several states of India! (You see? Pathet? Pradesh?) Now you have an idea!

Laos probably has the reputation along with Myanmar of being the “least touristy” of the Southeast Asian countries, and that’s precisely why it has its appeal.

Laotian expatriate / immigrant communities exist in many areas of the world, especially on the West Coast of the United States (I’ve heard that California does have a need for Lao interpreters).

Also keep in mind that Laotian -> citizen of Laos, as opposed to Lao -> refers to an ethnicity.

Some resources I’ve used to learn Lao (even though I’m not fluent yet), would include some of the following:

The Lonely Planet Book is very good, if it does have a flaw it may be the fact that it is meant for quick usage rather than being too suitable towards in-depth learners. That said, the glossary is EXTREMELY helpful, the tones and the concept of consonant tiers is explained, not also to mention many aspects of local cultures and, very importantly, when Western cultures can clash with Lao ones and how to be aware of and prepare for that.

Very suitable towards getting people to talk as QUICKLY as possible, the various books of the Live Lingua Project are also useful as well. Some people may consider the fact that the Lao alphabet is seldom used in these books as a bit of a flaw (by contrast, the Lonely Planet book and the Seasite NIU Website use the characters with transliteration as often as possible, except with the literature portions).

The books are DEEP and are supposed to get people who work for the Foreign Service or the Peace Corps to get using the language AS QUICKLY AS THEY CAN. So if that’s you, even if you don’t work with these organizations, those books are for you.

Seasite NIU (http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/) is also very helpful complete with dialogues and tone resources and other fun things that you can engage with. Did I mention that everything comes with FULL AUDIO?

I also used that website in my own Lao Learning Series, which you can see here:

Also if you’re a Lao native speaker, feel free to provide feedback to my 30 Days of Lao Challenge from this past November (for non-Lao speakers or understanders, turn on CC):

Have YOU learn Lao? How about both Lao and Thai? How close are they in your opinion? How have your experiences learning or using Lao in Laos or elsewhere in the world been? Let us know in the comments!

Anyhow for today’s post in honor of Burmese New Year (which began yesterday and is still in session, let’s share some songs that are 100% original and also 100% Burmese. They are not taken from any variety of outside melodies in any which way whatsoever J

If you’ve think you’ve heard this song at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, let me assure you that you probably dreamt it. J

No Norwegian-Irish Melodies to listen to here. Move along. J

100% Burmese. Definitely not ABBA at all. Nuh uh. No way.

Time for you to savor this Ukrain…I mean Russi… I mean Chine…I mean Burmese song. (Don’t get any funny ideas about thinking that it sounds anything like a song from VIA Gra, some Russian-singing girl band that you probably haven’t heard of until now, unless you know more about that real of the world than I do. As I heard in a similar song somewhere, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”)

That sinking feeling you may have heard this song from somewhere is just imaginary.

Okay, jokes off, I think you get the idea now. I’m very happy about the fact that Burmese Copy songs exist, and they date from the days of the military dictatorship. The Burmese renditions of these songs usually aren’t direction translations, and often more like “transcreations”. That said, the album through which I first discovered the fine art of Burmese Copy Songs is right here:

Probably one of the most CONFUSING things ever written about concerning the finer points of language learning is the question as to whether or not getting complimented on your language skills is a good thing or not.

Those who might not know anything about it would say “well, of course it’s a good thing!” However, several Facebook pages have had blog posts that indicate otherwise. (Don’t worry, I’ll get to my opinion in a moment, and it isn’t a simple one!)

The logic that says “truly good language learners don’t get complimented on their language skills” goes like this: native speakers don’t get complimented on THEIR skills, and so to get compliments from native speakers indicates that something is WRONG.

The truth is, I’ve been complimented on how well I speak English, even by native speakers. By that extension, that means that something is off (according to this line of logic).

However, there are many sides to the compliment factor, including the following which play important roles:

How commonly spoken is the language by foreigners? (This is especially true for what is the world’s most commonly studied L2 – English. If you’re learning that, don’t expect compliments unless you’re doing a REALLY good job).

How commonly is the language spoken by foreigners who look like you? (Being a white person such as myself can also work for me in learning a language from, let’s say, East Asia, but it can also work against me if I’m a beginner, as many people in Myanmar expected me to know English or German but Burmese? Not so much).

How well do you speak it? (The compliment is going to mean something completely different if you began learning the language a few weeks ago vs. if you’ve had several years of experience with it and consider yourself conversationally or professionally fluent. Having someone telling me I speak good Swedish at a party [which I’ve been learning since 2012 and fluent since late 2014 or so] is going to be different than the Burmese taxi driver telling me I speak good Burmese when I can say “I want to get off here” when I began learning a few months ago.) Also tied into this issue is how your sentences flow. Some beginners or even intermediate learners can sound like robots at times (I’ve been guilty of this myself) but if you sound believably like a radio announcer your compliment is more likely to be a good sign.

Compliments serve TWO purposes in a sense. For one, even if you don’t really speak it well, native speakers can tell you this in order to “egg you on” into studying further. (Believe me, native speakers KNOW this, especially with polyglot culture becoming bigger and bigger with each year, and sometimes meeting more and more resistance with each year, too). Another one is to let you know that you’re doing a good job AND that you should keep it up.

Emotionally intelligent people are aware of the fact that people do things that give them good feelings and avoid things that give them bad feelings. To get anyone to continue anything, make them feel good about it. To try to get someone from desist, make someone feel bad about it (again, this ties into the topic of online bullying and language learning that I wrote about in depth last month).

Now, is getting complimented a BAD sign?

In all honesty, no.

It’s just a sign that you have been making some variety of progress and you should keep going. And that the L1 speaker you are speaking to wants to get that across.

It’s also NOT TRUE that native-like speakers never get complimented. Because they do (heck, as I said above, I get told very often that I speak English very well and it’s my mother tongue).

Also remember that your goal is NOT to be mistaken as a native (although it is a good thing when it happens, it has happened to me on too many occasions to count), but rather to communicate and thereby show respect to someone’s culture and origin.

I know that there’s a myth going around saying that getting compliments means that your language skills are lacking, but usually it doesn’t mean that. Those who say it intend for it to be encouragement and you should take it as such. And they intend for you to let you know how FAR you’ve gone rather than how far you have left to go, even if you have only a few words.

Life is too short and too precious for discouragement! Keep on winning!